By BJ Austin, KERA reporter
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-765490.mp3
Dallas, TX – Outside the DISD School Board's budget meeting to consider teacher layoffs, parents and teachers worried about possible lost jobs. KERA's BJ Austin reports
Outside the DISD Administration Building, teachers carried signs and marched, sometimes getting honks of encouragement from passing cars. The recommendation to lay off nearly 700 teachers angers Hobie Hukill, math teacher turned librarian.
Hukill: It is unconscionable to kick an educator out in the middle of the first semester. Man, there are almost no jobs available in our field right now.
Parents Kim Linder and Rachel Buxkamper have second graders at Stonewall Jackson Elementary. They came to the School Board meeting to hear the bad news firsthand.
Linder: It's absolutely an outrage. How could a huge, huge mistake like this be made without there being checks and balances. It's just a horrible, big snowball.
Buxkamper: I just am sick about it. I'm thinking if I had handled my business this way in my job, that I wouldn't have a job today. And I think it is quite sad that so many people are going to be affected, you know, the people who did nothing wrong.
Molina High School art teacher Jay Frederick says this big budget mistake will end a lot of teaching careers.
Frederick: I've talked to teachers who say I'm actively looking for another job. I've either got to get out of this district, or get out of teaching. That's it.
BJ Austin KERA NEWS.